Inspire 2 Strange Battery Behavior

PhilZ · Oct 21, 2019

Recently I was flying a job with freshly charged batteries in my Inspire 2. Took off at 100%, and climbed to about 250'. Flew about 400' away and both batteries still read 100%. A few seconds after that, a warning message pops up-"Voltage difference too large." I look and one battery is at 0%, the other reads 99%. I brought it down and landed as quickly as I could. Checking the battery information page, both sets of cells on each battery were still in the low 4.0 volts/cell, on every cell. Each cell was within .03 of every other cell. Both batteries indicated around 95% charge left. However, if I switched to the main flight screen, one battery still read 0%. If I pressed the button on the side of each battery, one gave four solid lights, the other one flashing light. So, I put in another set of batteries, same exact thing happened. A third set of batteries from a different purchase lot performed normally and we completed our flight with no anomalies. This same behavior occurred about a week earlier with a third set of batteries.
When home, I charged the problem paired sets, and they didn't charge very long (indicating they really did have a charge. I placed a problem set in the aircraft, and turned it on and fired up the motors (no props). The load on the batteries was light, and it took an hour to drain to 70%, but now both batteries acted perfectly normal, draining in lockstep with each other.
The next day we flew low and close to test both sets and they performed completely normally, running them down to around 50% charge level.
The fact that in one week this happened with three tried and true battery sets, made me suspect of software/firmware/hardware in the aircraft. Each set had about 40 charge cycles on them, and had never been anything other than normal before this.
As I was writing this, another piece of information popped in to my head. I each instance, the batteries probably were below 15 degrees Celsius, and in all three cases of failure, the initial load was immediate and full (in positioning mode), so there was a significant load on the batteries before they had a reasonable time to warm up.
Has anyone else experienced this? I am also curious if the second battery in the aircraft had dropped to 0% (even though cells showed high voltage), if the aircraft would have fallen out of the air?

mmarian · Oct 21, 2019

PhilZ said:
Recently I was flying a job with freshly charged batteries in my Inspire 2. Took off at 100%, and climbed to about 250'. Flew about 400' away and both batteries still read 100%. A few seconds after that, a warning message pops up-"Voltage difference too large." I look and one battery is at 0%, the other reads 99%. I brought it down and landed as quickly as I could. Checking the battery information page, both sets of cells on each battery were still in the low 4.0 volts/cell, on every cell. Each cell was within .03 of every other cell. Both batteries indicated around 95% charge left. However, if I switched to the main flight screen, one battery still read 0%. If I pressed the button on the side of each battery, one gave four solid lights, the other one flashing light. So, I put in another set of batteries, same exact thing happened. A third set of batteries from a different purchase lot performed normally and we completed our flight with no anomalies. This same behavior occurred about a week earlier with a third set of batteries.
When home, I charged the problem paired sets, and they didn't charge very long (indicating they really did have a charge. I placed a problem set in the aircraft, and turned it on and fired up the motors (no props). The load on the batteries was light, and it took an hour to drain to 70%, but now both batteries acted perfectly normal, draining in lockstep with each other.
The next day we flew low and close to test both sets and they performed completely normally, running them down to around 50% charge level.
The fact that in one week this happened with three tried and true battery sets, made me suspect of software/firmware/hardware in the aircraft. Each set had about 40 charge cycles on them, and had never been anything other than normal before this.
As I was writing this, another piece of information popped in to my head. I each instance, the batteries probably were below 15 degrees Celsius, and in all three cases of failure, the initial load was immediate and full (in positioning mode), so there was a significant load on the batteries before they had a reasonable time to warm up.
Has anyone else experienced this? I am also curious if the second battery in the aircraft had dropped to 0% (even though cells showed high voltage), if the aircraft would have fallen out of the air?

Firstly make sure your Inspire2 has the latest .0300 FW. Then make sure all your batteries have also the latest FW. To check that you need to see if you get a FW mismatch message with any pair of your batteries inserted in the drone. If a battery does not have the latest FW you should get a prompt to update the FW. Hope this will solve your issue.

PilotDSH · Oct 22, 2019

I had the same warning appear with fully charged batteries just before takeoff. One battery was not seated fully in the I2. Ejected it and reinserted it tightly. All was good thereafter. Another possibility may be your I2's battery contacts may be tarnished. Somewhere in the manual it says to keep the rubber caps over the contacts when batteries are not inserted to prevent tarnishing.

AlmostaJoker · Oct 22, 2019

They were too cold. I had this exact same thing happen last year. Just warm them up before you fly, the batteries can heat themselves, you have to hold down the check charge button for a few seconds and they will start heating up.
Hope this helps.

PhilZ · Oct 22, 2019

Thank you everyone for reading my post and giving me some answers on this.
Last winter (in Minnesota) we would always warm the batteries, but have gotten out if the habit. Now, as cold weather is coming back, I didn’t expect 50 degrees would be an issue, but it clearly is. I will also use some Deoxit 5 and some contact enhancer in the terminals.

RBP · Oct 22, 2019

I had the same problem one, landed, re-seated the batteries and checked voltages and all was well. Only thing I could think of was that the left hand batter wasn't connected well, has no further issues with that pair of batteries.

mmarian · Oct 22, 2019

If indeed the battery FW is up to date, all of the above are good advice. When inserting the batteries you should be able to hear a distinct click sound for each battery. That confirms that the battery is fully in. Cleaning the contacts is what I do on a regular basis with contact cleaning spray and cotton buts on the inspire2 side and size 2 or 3 "Picksters", the interdental brushes on battery terminals. Using DeoXit gold might not be the greatest idea. It's oily composition might cause dust particles to get stuck on the contacts and cause abrasion. Just my 2c

ClearBluePhoto · Dec 18, 2020

PhilZ said:
Recently I was flying a job with freshly charged batteries in my Inspire 2. Took off at 100%, and climbed to about 250'. Flew about 400' away and both batteries still read 100%. A few seconds after that, a warning message pops up-"Voltage difference too large." I look and one battery is at 0%, the other reads 99%. I brought it down and landed as quickly as I could. Checking the battery information page, both sets of cells on each battery were still in the low 4.0 volts/cell, on every cell. Each cell was within .03 of every other cell. Both batteries indicated around 95% charge left. However, if I switched to the main flight screen, one battery still read 0%. If I pressed the button on the side of each battery, one gave four solid lights, the other one flashing light. So, I put in another set of batteries, same exact thing happened. A third set of batteries from a different purchase lot performed normally and we completed our flight with no anomalies. This same behavior occurred about a week earlier with a third set of batteries.
When home, I charged the problem paired sets, and they didn't charge very long (indicating they really did have a charge. I placed a problem set in the aircraft, and turned it on and fired up the motors (no props). The load on the batteries was light, and it took an hour to drain to 70%, but now both batteries acted perfectly normal, draining in lockstep with each other.
The next day we flew low and close to test both sets and they performed completely normally, running them down to around 50% charge level.
The fact that in one week this happened with three tried and true battery sets, made me suspect of software/firmware/hardware in the aircraft. Each set had about 40 charge cycles on them, and had never been anything other than normal before this.
As I was writing this, another piece of information popped in to my head. I each instance, the batteries probably were below 15 degrees Celsius, and in all three cases of failure, the initial load was immediate and full (in positioning mode), so there was a significant load on the batteries before they had a reasonable time to warm up.
Has anyone else experienced this? I am also curious if the second battery in the aircraft had dropped to 0% (even though cells showed high voltage), if the aircraft would have fallen out of the air?

I just had the exact same incident happen to me. Cold temperatures but I let the batteries warm to 15C before launching then about 3 min into the flight one battery went to zero and cell in the app show zero. When I click the button, 1 green light flashes the other battery is still at 97%. Did yours continue to work normally after charging?

PhilZ · Dec 19, 2020

No, they never functioned normally after that. I retired six batteries and re-paired the remaining four, then got six new sets which have all performed well. I hope you have better luck.

Jorge Vergara Latoja · Oct 26, 2021

PhilZ said:
Recently I was flying a job with freshly charged batteries in my Inspire 2. Took off at 100%, and climbed to about 250'. Flew about 400' away and both batteries still read 100%. A few seconds after that, a warning message pops up-"Voltage difference too large." I look and one battery is at 0%, the other reads 99%. I brought it down and landed as quickly as I could. Checking the battery information page, both sets of cells on each battery were still in the low 4.0 volts/cell, on every cell. Each cell was within .03 of every other cell. Both batteries indicated around 95% charge left. However, if I switched to the main flight screen, one battery still read 0%. If I pressed the button on the side of each battery, one gave four solid lights, the other one flashing light. So, I put in another set of batteries, same exact thing happened. A third set of batteries from a different purchase lot performed normally and we completed our flight with no anomalies. This same behavior occurred about a week earlier with a third set of batteries.
When home, I charged the problem paired sets, and they didn't charge very long (indicating they really did have a charge. I placed a problem set in the aircraft, and turned it on and fired up the motors (no props). The load on the batteries was light, and it took an hour to drain to 70%, but now both batteries acted perfectly normal, draining in lockstep with each other.
The next day we flew low and close to test both sets and they performed completely normally, running them down to around 50% charge level.
The fact that in one week this happened with three tried and true battery sets, made me suspect of software/firmware/hardware in the aircraft. Each set had about 40 charge cycles on them, and had never been anything other than normal before this.
As I was writing this, another piece of information popped in to my head. I each instance, the batteries probably were below 15 degrees Celsius, and in all three cases of failure, the initial load was immediate and full (in positioning mode), so there was a significant load on the batteries before they had a reasonable time to warm up.
Has anyone else experienced this? I am also curious if the second battery in the aircraft had dropped to 0% (even though cells showed high voltage), if the aircraft would have fallen out of the air?

Hello… In addition to verifying that you have the latest Firmware in the Inspire 2 as well as in the batteries and in the RC, I ask you if you have done a calibration to the batteries.? .. I have known that every 10 charge cycles Complete the batteries must be discharged as controlled and complete, you can fly the Inspire 2 and lower it with a 10 or 15% charge and then leave it on until the batteries are exhausted and the drone turns off (this is done called deep discharge cycle) and let the batteries cool down and then charge them to 100%. I also have an Inspire 2 and I have done it practically since I bought it (2017) I have 3 pairs of batteries and to date none of them have given me problems (I fly that if 3 or 4 times a month) and I rotate paired batteries that yes, so that their wear is even, I hope this helps you with what has happened to you, there is a YouTuber who explains something very similar to what happened to you, only that I snuggle him With an Inspire 1 v.2, its channel is called Iberian Drone League, it is a channel from Spain, I leave you the link… Good luck! Hello… In addition to verifying that you have the latest Firmware in the Inspire 2 as well as in the batteries and in the RC, I ask you if you have done a calibration to the batteries.? .. I have known that every 10 charge cycles Complete the batteries must be discharged as controlled and complete, you can fly the Inspire 2 and lower it with a 10 or 15% charge and then leave it on until the batteries are exhausted and the drone turns off (this is done called deep discharge cycle) and let the batteries cool down and then charge them to 100%. I also have an Inspire 2 and I have done it practically since I bought it (2017) I have 3 pairs of batteries and to date none of them have given me problems (I fly that if 3 or 4 times a month) and I rotate paired batteries that yes, so that their wear is even, I hope this helps you with what has happened to you, there is a YouTuber who explains something very similar to what happened to you, only that I snuggle him With an Inspire 1 v.2, its channel is called Iberian Drone League, it is a channel from Spain, I leave you the link… Good luck! Hello… In addition to verifying that you have the latest Firmware in the Inspire 2 as well as in the batteries and in the RC, I ask you if you have done a calibration to the batteries.? .. I have known that every 10 charge cycles Complete the batteries must be discharged as controlled and complete, you can fly the Inspire 2 and lower it with a 10 or 15% charge and then leave it on until the batteries are exhausted and the drone turns off (this is done called deep discharge cycle) and let the batteries cool down and then charge them to 100%. I also have an Inspire 2 and I have done it practically since I bought it (2017) I have 3 pairs of batteries and to date none of them have given me problems (I fly that if 3 or 4 times a month) and I rotate paired batteries that yes, so that their wear is even, I hope this helps you with what has happened to you, there is a YouTuber who explains something very similar to what happened to you, only that I snuggle him With an Inspire 1 v.2, its channel is called Iberian Drone League, it is a channel from Spain…Good luck!

AtortAerials · Oct 26, 2021

mmarian said:
Firstly make sure your Inspire2 has the latest .0300 FW. Then make sure all your batteries have also the latest FW. To check that you need to see if you get a FW mismatch message with any pair of your batteries inserted in the drone. If a battery does not have the latest FW you should get a prompt to update the FW. Hope this will solve your issue.

How do you check what your battery firmware is and how do you update the batteries? I am having the same issues!